Plain Dealer fileAfter fighting for more than five years, Paul Barna received a settlement from the security firm that let him go because he was a diabetic.

"Whatever happened to . . .?" is a weekly series updating some of the most newsworthy and interesting local stories covered in The Plain Dealer. Have a suggestion on a story we should update? Send it to John C. Kuehner.

Today, we answer these questions:

Whatever Happened to . . .

. . . . . . Paul Barna of Brook Park, who filed a discrimination complaint in 2005 after a private security firm hired him for firefighting duties at U.S. military bases in Iraq, then fired him because he is an insulin-dependent diabetic?

. . . farmhand who was caught on an undercover video last year beating, kicking and stabbing calves and cows at an Ohio dairy farm last year?

Whatever happened to Paul Barna of Brook Park, who filed a discrimination complaint in 2005 after a private security firm hired him for firefighting duties at U.S. military bases in Iraq, then fired him because he is an insulin-dependent diabetic?

Barna, 31, said he settled with the firm, Wackenhut Services Inc. of Florida, last December, just before his case was scheduled to go to arbitration.

Barna received a financial settlement from Wackenhut, which he cannot disclose due to a confidentiality agreement. But he believes his case represented "a big step for people with diabetes," in terms of making employers more aware of the capabilities of diabetics.

His attorney, Anthony Palombo, also said Barna made his point. "He didn't go away. He could've very easily just walked away and got on with life," he said. "He felt wronged and stuck with it over a long period of time. In no way was he defeated."

In response to an e-mail seeking comment, Wackenhut responded: "The Barna case was settled and we are not at liberty to discuss the terms. Our hiring policy for each contract would be in accordance with the U.S. government's requirements for the individual contract. Our company prides itself on providing opportunities for U.S. veterans and those with disabilities."

Barna had hoped the $90,000-a-year job would provide some free training in aircraft fire-rescue and hazardous materials work.

Nowadays, though he has worked as a volunteer firefighter, his emphasis has shifted to medical care. He's currently a nursing aide at Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights, and when he graduates from Brown Mackie College in Akron in December, he hopes to find work as a surgical technician.

He and his wife, Penny, a nurse at Southwest Hospital, live in Parma.

Barna spent 17 days on the job in Iraq before he was "administratively demobilized," and said, "I wish I could've finished out my year there. That would've been great if they'd let me stay.

"Parts of me misses it, and parts of me don't," he added. "You leave a piece of yourself over there."

-- Brian Albrecht

Billy Joe Gregg Jr.

What happened to the farmhand who was caught on an undercover video last year beating, kicking and stabbing calves and cows at an Ohio dairy farm last year?

Conklin Dairy Farm worker Billy Joe Gregg Jr. was fired and served eight months in jail after pleading guilty to six counts of cruelty to animals.

The 26-year-old Columbus man also paid a $1,000 fine and was barred from having contact with animals for three years and ordered to get psychological counseling.

An investigator hired by the nonprofit group got a job at the farm and recorded activities there in early May.

The video shows Gregg and others beating cows in the face with crowbars, stabbing them with pitchforks, breaking their tails and punching, throwing and kicking calves.

Mercy for Animals director Nathan Runkle said cows' tails were twisted until the bone snapped and workers bragged about stabbing, dragging, shooting and beating cows and calves to death.

"Gregg's punishment is a slap on the wrist compared to the unimaginable suffering endured by the animals who were victims of his malicious abuse," Runkle said.

Gregg was the only worker charged with cruelty. He was held at the Tri-County Regional Jail in Mechanicsburg from May 6 to Jan. 13.

The farm fired him the day the video was released and said in a prepared statement that "the video shows animal care that is clearly inconsistent with the high standards we set for our farm and its workers, and we find the specific mistreatment shown on the video to be reprehensible and unacceptable."